For Jack Grealish, football's sense of irony seems inexhaustible. Just as he has begun to look like his old self again — gliding past defenders, creating chances, dictating the rhythm with the confidence that once made him English football's great entertainer — fate intervenes.

Everton travel to the Etihad on Saturday, but he will not. The winger, on loan from Manchester City, is barred from facing his parent club.

It means that one of the weekend's most intriguing subplots will unfold in absence rather than presence. The 30-year-old, sitting high in the stands, will watch as Everton attempt to take on the machine that once was his home.

For him, it's a cruel reminder of the curious symmetry his career has traced around City: the team he could never conquer, then joined, and now must not face.

During his Aston Villa days, his encounters with City were a recurring torment. Eight matches, eight defeats, no goals, no assists — an unbroken streak of frustration stretching from the 4-0 loss at the Etihad in May 2014 to the 2-0 defeat in January 2021.

Even on the grand stage of Wembley, in the 2020 Carabao Cup final, City prevailed 2-1. It was, perhaps, those very glimpses of defiance amid defeat that caught Pep Guardiola's eye.

By the summer of 2021, the Spanish manager had made him the Premier League's most expensive player, a £100 million investment designed to inject artistry into City's metronomic precision.

Over four seasons in Manchester, he lifted trophies and tasted triumph, yet never quite escaped the scrutiny that follows high price tags and higher expectations. His years at the Etihad were gilded but uneasy — moments of brilliance punctuated by spells of inconsistency.

Now, on Merseyside, Grealish seems reborn. A goal and four assists in the early months of his Everton spell have rekindled the sense of joy and daring that once defined him at Villa Park.

Under David Moyes' more direct system, he has found clarity and purpose, his flair translating into a tangible end product.

But against City, his revival must pause. Regulations forbid him from taking the field against the club that still holds his contract, and so the player will remain a spectator to a story that once revolved around him.

Perhaps there's a poetic justice to it: the player who spent years chasing City, then served them, now watches from afar as both his past and present collide.

In another world, this might have been his chance to exorcise old ghosts — to finally break that eight-game curse, to score against the team that always beat him. Instead, the Etihad will once more be a stage he cannot step onto. For Grealish, the script remains unwritten.

Jack Grealish

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